Australia's parliament approved a free trade pact with the United States Friday, ending months of pre-election political wrangling but raising concerns Washington will scupper the deal over last-minute Australian amendments.
The government-dominated lower house rubber stamped the agreement when the opposition Labour Party ensured it passed through a previously-hostile Senate after cutting a deal with Prime Minister John Howard.
Howard said the agreement, first mooted in November 2002, was a fantastic outcome for Australia.
"The free trade agreement is an historic agreement," Howard told reporters. "Only this government could have negotiated it and it will have enormous long-term benefits for this country."
But Howard warned the price of the agreement's passage - government acceptance of Labour-sponsored amendments safeguarding Australians' access to cheap prescription drugs - could still stymie the deal.
Howard said US trade officials had made it clear they reserved the right to reject the deal if they felt the amendments were inconsistent with the original deal. "It is at that point there might be some concern," Howard told commercial radio. "I actually hope my fears are groundless but I have pointed them out.
Howard has described the amendments as clumsy and unnecessary but reluctantly backed them to save the agreement that forms the centrepiece of his trade policy ahead of national elections due later this year. "I believe in it, I've worked for this, and I've poured myself into it and the last thing I want to do is to see it fall over," Howard said.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's spokesman, Richard Mills, warned overnight that Washington had the right to ensure that the legislation passed by Australia abided by the terms of the free trade agreement.
The Labour amendments are designed to stop US pharmaceutical giants from using the free trade agreement as a tool to dismantle a government scheme which controls the price of prescription drugs.
Both sides in Canberra eventually threw their support behind the deal but its progress through parliament was delayed for months as it became bogged down in politicking ahead of national elections due later this year.
The agreement's passage slots home a crucial campaign platform for Howard and pundits say he could now call a poll at any time, although the prime minister indicated Friday he did not want to campaign during the Olympic Games.
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